


The Walls Kept Tumbling Down

by Monochrome_port, Pastel_Docks



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: AU, I ship Zuko with a well balanced diet and therapy, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Other, They live in Ba Sing Se, Zuko isn't Zuko, he's Lee now, kinda heavy topics later on?, rated teen because they’re allowed to say fuck, set right after s2ep12 "Journey to Ba Sing Se: Part 1: The Serpent's Path", we just want him to be happy and he sorta gets that here
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-16
Updated: 2020-06-17
Packaged: 2021-03-03 18:55:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,063
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24760426
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Monochrome_port/pseuds/Monochrome_port, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pastel_Docks/pseuds/Pastel_Docks
Summary: Lee was born in a Fire Nation colony, at the age of thirteen he left as a refugee with his uncle. His mother and father, traitors to the Fire Nation, died of an illness in a camp some ways away from the Earth Kingdom. He now lives as a tea server in Ba Sing Se, and nothing more. And yet, all of this is a lie.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 26





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Co-authored by my friend and amazing writer Luke.  
> This is the first fic that I've let the general public see. We do not own the characters written about in this fic, they belong to their rightful creators. The only thing we can take credit for is our own writing and the storyline we've produced.

Aang keeps watch over their small camp, the fire slowly dwindles down as the night wears on. He wakes Sokka, changing shifts to protect the others.  


"Good night, Sokka." Aang makes his way back to the tent he set up before his shift, moving the flaps out of his way. Aang crashes onto a makeshift sleeping bag, falling asleep almost immediately. It starts off just like any other dream, blurry and incomprehensible. A figure in brown steps toward him, a golden eye gazing out from a curtain of unkempt dark hair. Through the corner of his eye he can see long robes lined in pale yellow, but when he turns his head the figure has run off.  


"Wait! Who are you? Miss figure lady where did you go?" He turns every which way, until he sees another figure, lined in blue appear in the space, the lady holding onto his robes and hiding behind him.  


"Avatar Roku?"  


"Aang, it's good to see you again."  


"Why am I here? Has something happened to my friends to cause me to go into the avatar state?"  


"Nothing so serious has happened. There is simply someone new in your life you must meet." He gestures with his head the figure still clutching to his robes. "You need a firebending teacher, Aang. Within the walled city you will find who you are looking for, never underestimate their power. Your future master is kind and fair, but is a warrior at heart." Aang stares at Avatar Roku, then turns to look at the lady staring at him in curiosity. As soon as his eyes meet hers, she ducks away from his gaze and behind Avatar Roku.  


"You will learn many things about the people you have been taught to hate from this teacher, to understand your enemy they must also be your friend." Aang for all intents and purposes, while still confused, takes Roku's works to heart. A fire bender within Ba Sing Se, a girl who can dispel the prejudices they all have on fire nation people. Aang wakes with a start, Katara is already putting her sleeping bag away.  


"It's about time, Aang. You were asleep longer than Sokka." Aang still has a confused look on his face, eyebrows furrowed and lips pursed. He's dreaded the day ever since his last attempt to learn firebending.  


"I have to find someone to teach me firebending." Sokka perks up from his position by Toph,  


"Are we gonna have another dude join the team? Please say yes."  


"No, the figure I saw was a girl."  


"Ugh. Sometimes I feel like the universe doesn't want me to be happy."  


"Don't say that, what's so bad having another girl on the team?"  


"Sokka's just scared that another girl is going to upstage him." Katara says, earning an agreement from Toph.  


"Third times the charm huh?" Sokka grumbles as he sulks off.  


"What's this girl look like Aang?"  


"She had messy black hair, and it covered most of her left eye. I think her eyes were gold, but Avatar Roku's weird spirit glow made it hard to see. She seemed scared."  


"Scared of what? If she's a fire bender, then she's gotta be ruthless and deadly."  


"Not all firebenders are bad!" Aang thinks back on Roku's words, this teacher is supposed to be his friend.  


"Well you certainly changed your tune of them, twinkletoes."  


"It's just, Avatar Roku told me that this girl would change my view of fire benders and fire nation people."


	2. A Walk In Light Green

Hiding from Joo Dee was Toph’s idea, their very secluded tour of the third ring bringing forth no information about when they could visit the earth king or where to find Appa.  


“Maybe we should try that tea shop, someone there could help us.” Katara and Toph enter first, Sokka scans the customers for anyone of interest. The Jasmine Dragon, an establishment run by a refugee and his nephew. Taking their seats, no one notices the server standing there. Aang is intrigued, the girl’s hair is tied into long braids, bangs falling into the left side of her face. But then 'she' speaks, Aang’s hope fades completely. The boy has a slight lisp and doesn’t seem to speak above a whisper.  


"Welcome to the Jasmine Dragon, what can I get for you today?" Katara takes the lead, smiling at the boy.  


"What do you recommend?" He shyly tucks his long hair behind his ear.  


"Anything really, uncle makes the best tea in Ba Sing Se, so you can bet your taste buds will be in heaven!" The boy says brightly, the smile doesn’t reach his eyes.  


"I think I'll take the tapioca tea."  


"Anything else?"  


"I'll have the jasmine tea." Aang doesn't look the boy in the face, obviously disappointed. The boy's smile turns strained, though Aang doesn't see it, and he turns to Sokka,  


"and you?"  


"Ginseng tea sounds good." The boy looks at Toph after writing down Sokka's order.  


"I can read our menu out to you if you like."  


"Nah, I'll have whatever twinkletoes is having." Toph tells him. The boy smirks, a small laugh escaping his mouth.  


"Alright, it'll be out soon." The others look incredulously at Toph. The boy walks off to go tell his uncle their orders.  


"How did he know that you're blind? You didn't look up when he talked to you." Aang glances suspiciously at the door the boy left the seating area through.  


"I don't know, maybe it's the fact that I didn't look up and was probably staring blankly at the table that set him off," Toph says sarcastically. "Some people are observant, unlike you three." The boy comes back with a try balanced on his arm as he talks to an elderly woman a few tables down. When he comes back to their table, Aang grabs the boy's wrist.  


"Do you know if there are any firebenders in the city? He looks horrified at the prospect, and the boy's one working eye widens significantly,  


"The fire nation and fire benders aren't permitted in Ba Sing Se, where did you ever get the notion that they would be living here?"  


"Well you never know."  


"Please, I'm afraid if you continue to speak on the subject you'll be asked to leave." The boy walks away before Aang can say anything more. The next afternoon Katara wanders around the city by herself, Ba Sing Se is unlike any other place that she's been. A small market is nearby, never in her wildest dreams did she ever think that she would be in the earth kingdom at all. There are voices all around her, including one in particular that she hasn't been able to get out of her head since this morning at the tea shop.  


"You always try to scam me, Han. If you weren't the only person I can buy honey from in this ring I would put up more of a fuss." Katara spots the boy arguing with a merchant to no avail. He still has a gentle smile on his lips, but his eyebrow is furrowed slightly, like he's trying to act annoyed but really can't blame anyone.  


"Maybe I'll be more generous when your bartering skills improve, Lee." Lee, so that was his name, she decides to keep this information to herself as she keeps watch on the two. Lee laughs, it's rough sounding and slightly unpleasant if you don't know him.  


"They never will, you know I'm too soft for that."  


"Good thing you've got people looking out for you, kid. Tell your uncle I say hello."  


"Of course! Have a good one, Han." Lee makes eye contact with Katara, he quickly turns in the other direction and walks away. Katara thinks it's suspicious, so she continues to subtly follow him as he does his grocery shopping in the lower ring. Lee turns to a dead end street, Katara watches as he sits down. He takes out two oranges, smiling slightly.  


"Blue is a very obvious color to wear." Katara steps out from behind the wall and glares at him. "Care to join me or will I have to eat both oranges?" She walks closer and sits a good distance away from the boy, still suspicious of him. "Why were you following me?" Lee throws the second orange to Katara, patiently waiting for her answer.  


"You were acting suspicious, so I followed you."  


"If I hide here no one bothers me, sometimes people aren't as suspicious as they seem."  


"Why would you need to hide here?"  


"The children with deformities always get chased or have rocks thrown at them, I'm lucky that mine isn't that bad but it still happens." Katara honestly never really even noticed the scar on his face before. His wild hair often covers it, but when he boldly looks into Katara's eyes it's hard to ignore. "Even before I had gotten this scar I was tormented by a girl in my village." There's a slight silence between them, then he says, "I didn't mean to threaten your friend, it's dangerous to say such things here." He doesn't say anything else and stands up, he heads out of the dead end street leaving Katara to her thoughts. When she gets back to the house they've been given, Aang is talking to Sokka about going back to the tea shop tomorrow to get the boy to show them around.  


"Katara, where have you been? We looked for you everywhere." Turns out that alley is a good hiding spot, who knew the boy was right.  


"I was out for a walk in the lower ring. What are you two talking about?"  


"We want to talk to the boy from the tea shop, maybe if we become friends with him he'll open up." Aang reasons, wanting to reconcile with the boy.  


"We could ask him to show us around, he seems pretty familiar with the place."  


"Looks like Sugar Queen had a meeting with the mystery boy." Toph says through a laugh.  


"His name is Lee."  


"So you did go meet with him? Woah," Sokka says in amazement. Aang bounds up to Katara.  


"Is he nice?"  


"I guess you could say that, I didn't actually talk to him much."  


"What did he say?"  


"He talked about his life here sort of, I don't think it's my place to say." Sokka scoffs, unsure of what to say.  


"I still don't trust this guy, but if you all want to get murdered by some crazy tea boy be my guest." So with a majority vote, much to Sokka’s chagrin, they decide to go back to the tea shop tomorrow to ask the boy for a genuine tour of the city. Katara approaches him first, Aang giving her a thumbs up from around the street corner.  


"Hey Lee," she says awkwardly as she approaches the boy.  


"Oh, hi." He jumped slightly at her appearance beside him.  


"So uuuh-" Katara is cut off as Aang bounds up beside her,  


"Can you give us a tour of the city?"  


"I guess," the teen says even as he's taking off his apron and yelling to his uncle that he's taking a break. Katara smiles at the boy, blushing slightly. Aang glances at Lee with jealousy.  


"We've seen enough of the upper ring, can we go to the lower ones?"  


"There's not a lot to look at in the lower rings, but if you want to." He says short and to the point. They walk into the streets, Lee leads them through winding dirt roads to a small garden. Toph is pleased with his choice of a first location, she's grown tired of the city and its paved streets.  


"Have you always lived here?" Aang inquires. Lee looks uncomfortable with the topic, but answers nonetheless,  


"No, my uncle and I are refugees. I think you can guess why." Sokka grimaces, knowing all too well the feeling.  


"The Fire Nation won't stop until everything is under their control."  


"They can't take Ba Sing Se." Lee retorts with certainty.  


"Aang is going to stop the war." Katara states, looking Lee directly in the eye. Lee chokes as he takes in an inhale at the statement. Wide eyed he turns to look at Aang.  


"There is no war." Lee turns away from them, soldiers passing them in curiosity. They look at each other in shock,  


"What are you talking about? Haven't you seen what's happening at the outer wall?" Lee just continues to look at them.  


"Residents don't leave, I haven't seen beyond the city in three years." He continues, "there is no war, and I suggest you believe that before you get into trouble with the Dai Li." Lee whispers the last part to them.  


"Those agents that are everywhere?" Lee continues to look at them in disbelief,  


"Don't speak of them so casually, they're the people who enforce the cultural standards of the city. No one from the outer and lower rings can converse with people from the upper rings unless spoken to, that kind of stuff."  


"What ring are you in?"  


"Technically there are four. Our shop is in the third ring, so the uppermost ring besides the earth kingdom Palace." Aang shudders, the idea that people are categorized by their birth is foreign to him. People should be able to move freely in society.  


"It's kind of messed up, but once you move up in the rings, you just start to forget that you ever had a life in the lower ones. Most want to put that part behind them." Lee looks down at the stone path. "We were lucky we didn't have to spend much time in the outer ring." Their next destination is thwarted by boys Katara's age, blocking Lee's way.  


"Going somewhere, refugee?"  


"We're all refugees, I'm just giving a tour."  


"What a waste for our beautiful city to be shown off by someone as frightful looking as you." Lee flinches slightly, turning his face to the left to hide his scar. The tallest of the boys leans toward Lee, grinning sharply. Toph moves next to Lee, staring the boys down even though she cannot see them.  


"Playing with matches is dangerous you know."Another with short hair quips in next,  


"Anyone ever told you guys shouldn't look like girls. Ever thought of cutting your hair, refugee scum?" Katara wedges herself between Lee and the boys, her eyes blazing with rage.  


"What makes you think you have the right to treat people like this?" The boys look at each other, then to Lee,  


"You finally get yourself a girlfriend? What's she gonna do, beat us up?" They laugh in Lee's face.  


"To even think you deserve my attention is bold." Katara takes Lee's hand and walks away from him, Aang and Sokka quickly following after them. Toph stomps on the ground, a mound of rock sending the three boys flying backwards. Lee grins in spite of himself, feeling a mix of fear and respect around the young girl.  


"What was that back there?" Aang asks as he glances over his shoulder at the boys they left behind.  


"It happens often, don't worry about it." Lee states, his voice flat.  


"That's not worrying at all, yeah okay." Sokka says with his eyebrows furrowed.  


"I have a good life here, better than the one back home." Lee slowly lets go of Katara's hand, blushing scarlet when she makes eye contact with him.  


"Sorry about all that, we didn't even get through the tour."  


"We don't mind, can we see you tomorrow?" Aang probed, smiling up at Lee.  


"Sure, as long as you show up after closing time."  


"Deal." Aang puts his hand on Lee's shoulder, frowning when the teenager flinches. Going their separate ways, Lee runs back to the Jasmine Dragon hoping to beat sunset.  


"How was the tour, nephew?" His uncle asks when he enters the shop for the second time. Lee smiles at him,  


"It went fine, uncle."  


"No trouble today?  


"No trouble today," Lee echoes. The last customer exits the Jasmine Dragon, for now the two can speak freely.  


"It's good to see you making friends, Lee. Good ones are not easy to find."  


"They aren't my friends, uncle."  


"'Oh I barely know them, uncle' is that what you're going to say? They are your friends, no questions." Iroh laughs as Lee turns back to sweeping with a red face. Lee wakes up the next morning, sunlight streaming through his small bedroom window. He sits up with a groan, all that talk about war, and the Dai Li, and the tour yesterday manifested as a headache the next morning.  


"Nephew, we're about to open." Three years of his life looking the same from day to day, work at the shop, errands, get teased by other youths, dash home with the belief that he can outrun them. He ties his apron in the back and goes to stand with his uncle in front of the store. Regular customers taking their seats, Lee smiles as they walk in, usually met with gazes of pity or revulsion. 'Nothing new, who wouldn't cringe at such a blatant reminder of the fire nation.' The hours pass slowly, Lee fumbles around in a haze through most of it. He wonders when those other kids are going to come back and actually buy some tea. Sokka and Katara's blue clothes of varying tones stick out among the sea of green, if you asked Lee he would deny smiling at them.  


"Lee!" Katara shouts, hugging the shocked teenager. Lee slowly pushes her off, glancing at Aang's slightly pouting face.  


"Are you actually going to get tea today?" Sokka pretends to hum and look around,  


"I don't know, we might be a little low on money for some leisure tea time." Lee gives him a look, taking Sokka seriously.  


"If you're not going to get tea today, then you'll have to leave." Lee looks serious, they don't know if he actually is or not.  


"I'm joking, buddy. Didn't you know that?" Sokka elbows Lee in the ribs.Lee stumbles a bit, and the customers stare at the group of five as Lee's face furrows like he doesn't know what Sokka is talking about.  


"Sit down now, people are staring." They wait patiently for Lee, calmly drinking tea. Though Sokka winces with every sip. Lee stops by their table again, and he notices Sokka's wincing,  


"Is there something wrong with the tea?" He asks as he raises an eyebrow. Lee can hear the gasp from across the shop, and he sighs. 'Uncle's going to throw a hissy fit.'  


"Look what you've done now, idiot." Katara sharply glares at Sokka, who cowers slightly.  


"You could've said something before you ordered." Lee looks behind him as he hears his uncle's familiar footsteps come towards them. Lee sighs, stepping out of the way.  


"Good luck dealing with my uncle." After a proper scolding from Lee's uncle, they finally get to spend time around their new friend.  


"I know a place that you'll like, at nights they light up the torches around the fountain." Lee weaves his way through the crowded street, the others trying to keep him in their line of sight. "A girl showed it to me years ago when we still lived in the outer ring, it's beautiful, truly."  


"Ooh, a girl?" Sokka teases.  


"Yeah, I think she moved to the second ring not long after we moved," Lee doesn't notice the teasing, it simply going right over his head. Sokka glances at Aang, both confused.  


"Did he just reject my taunts?"  


"I think he did Sokka, better luck next time," Aang snickers at him as he continues walking, leaving Sokka in confusion. Katara is the one most taken with Lee, laughing at his jokes that mostly fall flat. After their rocky start, she thinks she might as well try to reconcile as much as she can.  


"Do you know how someone can visit the earth king?" Aang inquires, shoving between Lee and Katara.  


"You really can't, the Earth King really doesn't take visitors, and it takes months for any applications to go through," Lee tells him. "You can catch glimpses of him when he comes to the parties he has for his pet bear, but other than that, nothing."  


"A bear? Are you sure it's not a platypus bear?"  


"Just a bear."  


"This place is weird." Toph is throwing around a pebble, 'accidentally' hitting Sokka in the back of the head.  


"Ow," Sokka rubs the back of his head as he glares at Toph.  


"Would you rather a boulder?" The sun sets as they find the fountain, Lee pauses as the lights flicker.  


"Oh no, they're almost all out," Lee says sadly. Then he perks up, "close your eyes, I want it to be a surprise, I forgot I had matches with me." a little white lie won't hurt, but he knows he's walking on thin ice. Lee creates a small flame, slowly lighting each torch. "Okay, you can open your eyes." They turn around to see the beautiful lights reflecting off of the surface of the fountain.  


"Wow, it's beautiful." Katara gets closer, the light of the fire reflecting on her blue eyes. Toph sits down at the base of a tree, thoroughly bored.  


"Maybe it's beautiful for you all."  


"You can still enjoy it, doesn't the sound of the fountain put you at ease?" Lee asks her, his voice gentle.  


"Not really, but thanks for trying." Aang interjects himself,  


"So does the Earth King have these parties often?"  


"I wouldn't know, I'm going to be at the one this week but I don't know about the others."  


"This week?"  


"Yeah, I'll be going to serve tea in place of my uncle, he wants me to widen my social circle," he says with distaste.  


"Do you not have other friends?" Katara asks. Lee looks down,  


"no, you've seen how the other people my age treat me. It's not exactly ideal living with a permanent reminder of the fire nation on your face."  


"It's not ugly, you faced the fire nation and survived. That's something to be proud of."  


"Tell that to the people who don't even know there's a war going on outside their precious walls." Aang is taken aback. Roku's voice echoes in his head, a warrior. A spark of rebellion existed in Lee, it just took a while to reveal itself.  


"Would you perhaps be proficient in, oh I don't know say, fighting?" Aang asks him.  


"Um, street fights mostly. I get into trouble a lot." That doesn't really define a warrior Aang thinks to himself. Aang pieces Lee's story together, a fire nation colony, asking them to close their eyes and the torches being lit, a firebender. But suspicion won’t help them, Lee is their only ally in Ba Sing Se, though he doesn’t know it. Lee sits against the tree, unsure of what to say to Toph. He can't treat her like a child, to do so would be insulting. He tries to sympathize with her, maybe having something in common will let her open up.  


"I can't see out of my left eye." She turns to give him a surprised look.  


"You're blind too?"  


"Yeah, it's a little harder to get around sometimes. I've gotta turn my head much farther to see anything on my left side."  


"I hate it when people think of me as something less because I'm blind."  


"You probably already know this, but it doesn’t make you worthless or unlucky."  


"Were you born blind too?” Lee’s face falls, his mind lost in memories.  


"No, just lucky to be born." Toph moves closer to Lee, leaving each other in a comforting silence.  


"I hope we find Appa." Aang sits on the side of the fountain, holding Appa's whistle in his hand.  


"Who's Appa?" Lee tilts his head towards Aang.  


"My flying bison, he was stolen while we were travelling through the desert."  


"Oh no, do you have any leads?" Lee sounds genuinely concerned about Appa.  


"Not really, we know he might be in Ba Sing Se, but that's about it." Aang sighs in sadness.  


"Well if you ever need any help I know the city like the back of hand at this point," Lee smiles at Aang, hoping to reconcile with the boy and reassure him about his bison.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shit's about to get real. - Luke  
> Completely true, things will start to get more interesting with the new chapters that will be put up.  
> Once again, we probably won't have a solid update schedule, but we will try to get new chapters out frequently. So hopefully the next chapter will be out by the end of the month. - Cephus

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading this! We really had a good time writing it and it has opened our eyes on how good stories can be written. If there are any mistakes let us know, and also what you thought of what we have. The first official chapter is going to be right after this one because we just can't wait to put it up!  
> Not quite sure if there will be a solid update schedule, but there will be more chapters to come.


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